Phobia
by Cerulean Pen
Summary: Everypony has a fear that she manages to conceal deep within herself. But after being separated by a horrible monster that exposes their terrors, the main six must fight their phobias to save one another. Non-slash, minor Applejack/Rainbow Dash.


Phobia

Summary: Everypony has a fear that she manages to conceal deep within herself. But after being separated by a horrible monster that exposes their terrors, the main six must fight their phobias to save one another. Non-slash, minor Applejack/Rainbow Dash.

English Friendship/Tragedy Rated: T Chapters:1 Words: Rainbow Dash & Applejack

**I: Agoraphobia **

Oh, Rarity was afraid of many things. She loathed insects and mud and refused to even expose herself to sunlight if her curls weren't positively flawless.

But these petty, inconsequential frets faded into oblivion at the moment. Now, she was curled piteously in a grove of rocks, blanching to the point of translucency as a shriek of agony split the midnight-shrouded darkness of the Everfree Forest. Rarity was paralyzed in utter terror, her glossy lips twitching in futile attempts to articulate even the simplest of words, trembling like a tawny leave in the December winds.

Typically, she would've brushed herself off and combat this horrendous creature that had metamorphosed the nonchalant journey to Zecora's cottage a living nightmare. But now she was enclosed in a diminutive scope of quartz and foliage, coerced to hear her friends exposed to the entire wrath of Phobium. Rarity must've looked a fright, coiled into a rigid decubitis with her gorgeous coat besmirched, azure eyes fixated on distant points, scarcely able to respire in her fear.

Rarity had always strived to maintain a concrete barrier over her fear. Phobium had effortlessly obliterated her supports, his lethal claws withdrawing her phobia and tossing it into the air like a child's toy. If one were to drag out their substantial dictionary from the back of their closet, they could search for the accurate word for Rarity's fear, and that was _Agoraphobia. _

Twilight Sparkle had once been fascinated by psychology, spending her days investigating a myriad of emotions that the mind possessed. Rarity had been there when the definition had been announced: _"Agoraphobia, fear of places or events where escape is impossible or when help is unavailable." _Rarity always tried in vain to be bold, brave, like Rainbow Dash, yet ultimately failed in her friend's time of need.

She still recalled when the spikes first sprouted in her soul, entangling the ingenuous thread of childhood. Rarity had gone into her neighbor's cellar, offering to help them move an antiqued lawn ornament she found rather garish. She had exclaimed in disgust at the gathered dust, the gossamer cobwebs, and did not notice that the neighbor's bulldog had followed her in.

Those eyes. Satan's pupils, tinged scarlet, scrutinizing every atom of the susceptible unicorn who began to shove the stone statuette towards the stairwell, wandering just how she'd make it to the yard. The bulldog snarled, roared, revealing his jagged teeth and attacked, shattering the sculpture as Rarity sprinted towards the oaken doors, screeching hysterically. Twilight Sparkle's erudite tone reverberated throughout her mind, reading of being without help.

Thirty-seven minutes alone with a vicious bulldog. Bloodying her hooves as she pawed frenetically at the cellar door. Rarity shuddered, and was plunged into mute shock as the landscape melted, transforming into…a dank, filthy cellar with only a feeble, forty-watt light bulb bathing an eerie glow on the wrinkled visage of a bulldog.

Rarity did not pause to think that Phobium was manipulating her environment, feeding off the fear. She only reared her snow-white head back and screamed.

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**II: Autophobia**

Isolation. Solitude. _Alone._

The roseate foal stared despondently up at the dingy rafters of her bedroom, easy prey for Phobium's hallucinations. He found Pinkie Pie's mind quite unproblematic to fool, the grey matter concocting her repressed fear that was buried under jovial mountains and celebrative seas. The best she kept hidden though, occasionally irritated Pinkie Pie at the understanding that her friends were oblivious. Why did her mane straighten at the thought of isolation? Why did she always accompany somepony on an otherwise trivial journey?

Rocks were perhaps the bane of her existence. For eight years she had rolled somber stones along the parched ground, her world an abstract blur of grays and beiges that diversified Pinkie Pie from her family. A dragon fruit on a lemon family tree. The _pink _sheep. Pinkie Pie chuckled darkly at the image of sheep with fuchsia fur. That Sonic Rainboom had thrust a golden key into her lock of cheer, just one amongst multiple emotion doors that had spontaneous feelings gathering dust behind.

But they left her. Awakening with her curly mane, bounding out of bed to trot down the stairwell, sparking with plans to try her hoof at baking. The kitchen was chilly, the iron stove whirring in anticipation of a tin pot to be placed upon its sizzling coals. The living room was haunted by the delusion of her parents seated upon the loveseat, conversing over the year's crop, her younger sisters perhaps completing their schoolwork. Floorboards creaked, the mantelpiece sang a mourning song, and Pinkie Pie abruptly felt years younger, a little filly scared of the dark.

She settled on her haunches, the yellow and cerulean balloons staining her flank deflating rapidly. Pinkie Pie glanced about, looked up, and inhaled deeply, deciding to carry out her sole option in the situation. She laughed. Her trills filled the emptiness, swelling to occupy the vacancy and exploding into merry hues. Pinkie Pie's giggles painted a rainbow abode, her cheerful family guffawing along with her.

Nopony knew. Pinkie Pie constructed the façade, of an exuberant foal that just wanted to bake sweets and plan festivities, not lure ponies in and never release them. She had adopted Gummy, disregarding the flapping fliers of "have you seen this alligator?" When her friends weren't around, or the Cakes were out, Pinkie Pie would simply lose her mind without company. She had the nightmares more often now, of slaughtering her closest friends so she would have them eternally.

It stung. Raw and bloody, the phobia tore at her sole, much to Phobium's delight, molding the Everfree Forest into Pie and Associates Rock Farm. Pinkie Pie sniffled, mounting the enormous boulder she saw as her dusty bed, awaiting her mother to come tuck her in. She never wanted this. Pinkie Pie had obstinately refused to oblige to her fears at some instances, forcing herself to stay in her bedroom.

After five minutes, there was a braid of streamers wrapped around her throat, centimeters away from crushing her windpipe. Pinkie Pie had cut herself loose, galloped over to Twilight Sparkle's, and breathlessly asked if she had plans for that afternoon. The streamers were used the next day for Gummy's birthday party.

The screams of her friends fell on deaf ears. Pinkie Pie couldn't even see Phobium slither away from his masterpiece, because she was entirely convinced she was utterly alone.

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**III: Herpetophobia **

If Fluttershy's enlarged, cyan eyes had been able to secrete tears, the globules would have vanished from her cheeks as they were consumed by the tongues of flames attempting to lick her. The butter-yellow pegasus was petrified, sprawled in the core of a fiery torrent spilling from the gaping mouth of Phobium. The hideous creature had expertly molded his form into that of a gargantuan dragon, flapping his leathery wings as he spewed once more, setting a shrub ablaze. Fluttershy whimpered faintly, shutting her eyes in hope to diminish the vibrant hues dancing before her; the image was burned against her eyelids.

It was no surprise Fluttershy was horror-struck by dragons, but the phobia was lodged in unfathomable regions of her passionate soul. She had ferociously reprimanded the reptilian beast that dared to lay a brutal claw on Rainbow Dash. That dragon haunted her, threatening to char her woodland cottage during the night before he abandoned his cavernous mount. Her compassion for animals had temporarily evaporated, and Fluttershy was shocked to discover herself abhorring a creature.

Fluttershy had been beneath the flame, but this extended past known boundaries of feasibility. The dragon's hellfire ringed about her, threatening to singe her tangled mane, and she, in her internal panic, had a contemplation of aerially navigating her way from the dragon. Weeping gently, she fluttered her feathers, her cumbersome burden lightening as she rose past the sparks, her chest erupting into spasms.

With a twitch of a scaly appendage, Phobium slashed at Fluttershy's hind, sending her spiraling to the earth with a shrill yelp of excruciation. She crawled feebly away from the monstrosity, collapsing into velvety darkness as vermillion cascaded down her tail. The icy fingers of unconsciousness grasping her mind, Fluttershy mistily recalled where her phobia sprouted from.

All those years ago, plummeting to Ponyville and rescued by a wave of vivid butterflies, had altered her life. Fluttershy had cantered to the Everfree Forest, enthusiastically searching for another species to aid with her newly acquired talent and Cutie Mark. She conjectured as to whether the peguasi in the heavens had noticed her disappearance, but did not fret much over this. Fluttershy giggled at a pair of chestnut-furred squirrels scrambling to find acorns, tittering to one another.

"Bye-bye Mister and Missus Squirrels," Fluttershy bid farewell, grounding to a cessation at the sound of twigs snapping. Was another adorable being scurrying through the bushes to investigate Fluttershy? She grinned joyfully, peering through a chute of boughs to find-

The pegasus tumbled backwards, wailing in agony. A bubbling patch of black chars her torso, throbbing with every beat of her heart. Fluttershy had never encountered a dragon, but now fully comprehended the hazards of one as she galloped headlong towards the meadow. If caring for animals meant dragons around every bend, then maybe she should not even consider pursuing a lifetime of this anyhow.

Fluttershy despised herself for being such a weakling. She sometimes aspired to be intrepid, able to accomplish audacious feats such as Rainbow Dash. The pegasus suffered the lashing of a blaze, eliciting a screech that was purely out of frustration and self-loathing at the understanding she could not save her friends.

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**IV: Atychiphobia**

The Wonderbolts shimmered with transcendent iridescent, and Rainbow Dash didn't care that they glistened translucently; the soil sponged into plush clouds beneath her. She grinned jovially, flaring her wings at the presence of the prestigious flight team, watching intently as Soarin' stepped forward, his emerald eyes narrowing deviously. "Let's see it Rainbow Dash."

Her memory was rendered void of the situation she was in, focusing every atom of herself into the aerial routine she had practiced incessantly. This was the moment, the dedication of her single ambition that would doubtlessly modify her life. Oh, she could sense the rubber against her flesh. Rainbow Dash bolted into the stratosphere, leaving a streak of vibrant colors in her path.

She soared forward, circling the silver moon that curved like a sickle in the dimness. Rainbow Dash put on a burst of speed, barrel-rolling expertly and zigzagging with the utmost composure, adrenaline substituting ruby blood in her veins. Her final chance…Rainbow Dash prepared to complete the Sonic Rainboom once more, gales stirring her tresses, tears boiling in her strong rose eyes. She rose, angled her body, and-

The ground met her skull, swiveling her towards the Wonderbolts, gliding over the brittle grass in a spray of loam, arriving in a piteous heap at their hooves. No…oh God, no, it wasn't happening again. **NO. **Rainbow Dash had failed, staring up into a pair of burnt sienna eyes before the biting resonance of harsh laughter struck her eardrums.

Rainbow Dash had tried, she always struggled to do her best. The pegasus that everypony admired for her corporeal strength, loyalty, and unruffled personality. So nopony suspected the anxiety corroding her tranquility within, the fear of failing, her gut-wrenching apprehensiveness when if the Wonderbolts were even mentioned.

"That was terrific, Rainbow _Crash!" _Spitfire taunted, guffawing at the twisted hilarity of the situation. She nudged Soarin', prompting the two to saunter into the dense vegetation, leaving a filthy Rainbow Dash to wallow in her misery.

It baffled her as to where her phobia stemmed from. She was born to perform, idolizing the Wonderbolts ever since she could flap her petite wings. Her first audition had been exhilarating, bursting through sheets of grey fog so the Wonderbolts could witness her swift techniques firsthand. It had been disappointing not to be excepted, but Spitfire had personally addressed her, complimenting her hairpin-turns.

Rainbow Dash could hardly stand what a failure she was. She would never astound the Wonderbolts, or even succeed as a pegasus in Ponyville. The Phobium felt an abrupt rush of despondency, emitted solely from Rainbow Dash as she dejectedly dragged herself to a jagged cliff side. With nothing to bind her wings back, Rainbow Dash would have to constrain herself not to soar upwards at the last second.

The fear knotted her heartstrings into stoic bulges. Living with the constant terror she would mess everything up. Rainbow Dash was brave alright; tossing yourself off a cliff took valor unknown to most everypony. The breeze drew tears from her eyes, ruffled her mane, and she could almost imagine she was flying as she plunged towards the stones.

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**V: Aquaphobia**

Her beloved cowpony hat was in shreds at the riverbank, tinted chestnut at the brims from squelching mud. If Applejack had been tranquil enough to catch a glimpse of her signature attire, she would've paddled back to obtain it, perhaps configuring a strategy to patch it up. But the typically wooden blonde mare was moments away from a panic attack as she whisked down the roaring river.

Paddling frenetically, Applejack struggled to inhale, her vision blurring and hooves quaking from the full force of the intensely churning water. She knew the stream in the Everfree Forest was supposed to be a stagnant, opaque ribbon of diluted soil. The nightmarish beast she had distinguished before being separated from her friends had to be behind this, distorting her perspective.

Oh well. Rationality didn't bear significance at the moment. Applejack was scarcely clinging to sanity, quaking with the fear of never emerging from the frothy surface. The waves consumed her battered body, retaining her in the swirling darkness that plugged her nose, and pervaded her buckling lungs. This was her portrait of anguish, drowning in this fatal stream with the knowledge she had not been valiant enough to rescue her friends.

Applejack's tear-streaked visage broke the foamy river upsurge, just as it had seven years ago. Why had she indignantly excepted Big Macintosh's dare to clamber up the golden delicious apple tree with the stream ravaging beneath her? What had she achieved from this? An instant case of aquaphobia and one, indifferent "eeyup"? It was extremely difficult to fib to her friends that she was "just peachy" after refusing to join them in the community pool. Almost excruciating. Rainbow Dash had peered at her curiously the entire-

_Rainbow Dash._

The cyan speck plummeted from the cliff, a multihued streak that jerked Applejack from her inward terror. She propelled herself forward, a myriad of horrendous scenarios racing through her mind as to how the Phobium wounded her closest friend. Applejack burst through a surge, spraying the mucky water in geysers about her, lunging upwards to support Rainbow Dash's collapse.

Applejack was sent backwards, her arching spine slammed against the river's gravelly bed, cradling the pegasus's bruised body. She writhed in torment, the surface no longer visible; only unfathomable torrents of merciless stream. The drenched mare bucked forcibly at the floor, scraping her hooves as Applejack swam towards the oxygen available. Rainbow Dash made for a rather cumbersome bulk, but Applejack was dementedly lashing out, respiring once they hit the frigid nighttime air.

"C'mon Dash, breathe, breathe!" She hefted her body onto the mound of land, tossing herself alongside her, unable to speak any more. Applejack coiled her limbs to her torso, and rolled onto her side, sobbing mutedly at the racket of the river. The phobia imbued her chest, inhalation proving impossible. The December night blinded Applejack, and she went limp with her front appendages wrapped around Rainbow Dash.

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**VI: Thanatophobia**

The pungent aroma of death. It clung to each exposed surface, petrifying Twilight Sparkle before she could view the scene. A pony had the level of erudition she was should obviously recognize the dangers of panicking, especially when the lavender unicorn was aware Phobium controlled her surroundings, but nothing could repress her screech of repulsion.

Skeletons. Their corpses scattered in slipshod heaps, flesh tied on by bloodied tendons, jaws unhinged as if they expired whilst screaming in agony. Twilight Sparkle swiveled her body, leaning into the hedges to release the contents of her stomach in the utter repugnance of the macabre version of her friends. The atmosphere was bitter, slicing her bones into the marrow to unleash their artic fury.

Spike had once described Twilight Sparkle's next actions: "It was like a train wreck: horrible and disgusting, but you just couldn't look away."

Rarity's remains were posed in elegance, visage contorted by the claws of a vicious animals, her fur accumulating in snow-white blankets blemished maroon in scopes of abrasions. Pinkie Pie appeared to have not been mutilated, but her dull cerulean eyes were those of the dead, spread over the grass like a filly in bed. Fluttershy was only recognizable by the last strands of bubblegum pink hair, her remnants charred to the point where she resembled a hefty coal in a grill. Rainbow Dash's skull had split into jagged teeth, grey matter entangled in her brawny wings, which had shattered beneath an unknown impact. Applejack was swollen with water, the ecru peaks of her vertebrate peering through her gashed amber coat, speckled with gravel.

"No…" Twilight Sparkle toppled backwards so she wouldn't crumple in a dead faint, snuffing the mauve luminescence her horn emitted. Her phobia, a silenced fear buried under her rationality and intelligence, was ravaging through her ribcage. The death. Unable to save her friends. After all the experiences with the shadowy stranger, Twilight Sparkle met him personally, smirking as he claimed his victims.

"Ah, Twilight Sparkle, couldn't even use that magic to rescue her friends."

She was paralyzed in unspeakable fright as Rainbow Dash rose to her hooves, jaw twitching as she articulated the sonorous statement. Grey matter oozed over the crest of her cracked cheekbone. Applejack accompanied her, water dripping with every creaking hoof step, spine visible in ranges. "Why Twilight, ain't that fancy horn good for something?"

The unicorn wept, practically slamming her hooves against her forehead, striving to remember that this was all a twisted hallucination. An icy hoof brushed against her neck, sending Twilight Sparkle into hysterics, whirling her appendages to strike Rainbow Dash's jaw. The image fuzzed, and she retreated, shutting her violet eyes, screeching against the caverns in her mind that it wasn't real.

"You're not dead! Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, where are you?"

Phobium's claws brushed her flank, the hideous delusions diminishing into the darkness. A jointed creature with pebbled flesh crawled into view, flashing a shark-toothed grin in Twilight Sparkle's direction, eyes the hue of rotten squash. "Twilight, I expected more from you. Why lie? You know they died, due to you giving up. No magic here. No friendship. Just death."

Twilight Sparkle growled, lowering her head to face Phobium. "No, I won't believe it. They're alive. Alive." Her horn began to throb, a lavender radiance bathing Phobium's blood-splattered face in an eerie glow. The phobia tore at her restraints, magic pumping to the apex of her skull, glitter soaring through the air. Phobium scraped at her throat, attempting to end this all, and did not acknowledge the utter abhorrence in Twilight Sparkle's eyes.

"What-"

The dawn erupted in an amethyst combustion, flooding from the tip of Twilight Sparkle's horn, engulfing Phobium in the epitome of her magical capabilities. Shrieking in excruciation, Twilight Sparkle elevated her chin, her hurricane sending only minor tremors through Ponyville. Dying sparks escalating through the electricity-charged air, the unicorn buckled, fireworks exploding off her eyelids.

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**VII: Phobophobia **

Six silhouettes sauntered down a beaten path, heading towards a familiar library rising into the golden sky. An anxious dragon glanced out the enormous windows for the umpteenth occasion that hour, bouncing into the air. "Twilight!" Spike exclaimed, tackling the scraped mare to the loam, barraging her forehead with a multitude of sloppy kisses, cuddling her neck. "Twilight, I was so worried when you guys didn't come back!"

She could've admonished him for fretting, or for this public display of affection; instead, Twilight Sparkle embraced her beloved assistant, afraid to release. "We're okay, just a little…banged up. Here, let's come inside." They ventured into the warm, hospitable library, where a crackling fire blazed cheerfully in the mantel. Fluttershy pecked Spike's forehead, and settled close to the flames, undaunted by their scorching tongues. She would be safe.

Pinkie Pie scrubbed at the mahogany stain at her buttress, finding it obstinately burrowed itself in her coat. "Hey Twilight, can I use your bathroom?" The unicorn nodded, leaving the foal to ascend the stairwell on her own, coming into Applejack's realization.

"Want me to come with you, sugar cube?"

"No thanks. I think I'll be okay." Pinkie Pie giggled under her breath as she splashed water over her grimy fur, beginning to feel fresh exuberance that had faded in the forest. Maybe she'd throw a welcome-back party for her friends, although the title sounded odd; truthfully, it was more of a "it's great we survived" celebration.

Rarity meticulously curled both her tresses and those of her friends, taking care that the coifs were glossy. She trotted home a quarter until noon, her core worry over what sort of havoc Sweetie Belle wrecked upon occupying the dress shop during the night. Rainbow Dash initiated her ordinary practicing, stopping by Cloudsdale momentarily to shower. On her way to the stratosphere, she encountered a particular pegasus that winked his eyes behind his goggles before flying away. Twilight Sparkle encountered a decaying squirrel that had been flattened by a cart the previous night. She swallowed, cantered to the library, and prepared a proper funeral for the creature's carcass.

Applejack partook in a water balloon fight with Apple Bloom that afternoon, and later took a luxurious bath without a care in the world. All was well.


End file.
